The 27th World Climate Conference (COP-27) in the tourist-city of Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt has gathered controversy and discussions on compensation payments. 45 thousand delegates from 196 countries of the world have gathered in Sharm Al-Sheikh on the occasion of the conference. The conference started on November 6 and will continue till November 18.
In discussion and debate, it is said loudly that the rich world has caused the climate crisis. Poorer worlds with very low carbon emissions are suffering the most. Climate change needs financing. A new report presented at the conference says that developing countries must make the necessary changes to overcome the damage caused by climate change. And it will require about 2 trillion dollars a year by 2030. News from AFP, BBC and Al-Jazeera.
100 billion annually from 2020 to help poor countries reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of extreme weather. This target was not met. The longer rich countries continue to fail to live up to their promises, the more the developing world’s trust in developed countries will diminish.
Much of the money the developed world gives to climate finance goes to middle-income countries’ emissions reduction projects. As a result, poor countries with the least carbon emissions received the least aid. These countries need more support for ways to adapt to extreme weather. Such as the need to increase afforestation, develop flood control systems and establish early warning systems. Currently, only one-fifth of climate finance is allocated to these sectors and adaptation. Last year it promised to double it.
According to discussions at the conference, developing countries have strongly called for the establishment of a framework of Global Goals on Adaptation (GGA). An action plan for adaptation has been presented by Egypt. There will be some progress but the goal of doubling funding for adaptation will not be met this year.
Poor countries are victims of colonial exploitation and plunder by rich countries. They are helpless when it comes to dealing with extreme climate change. Because, they don’t have financial resources. Without the necessary funding, countries affected by climate change damage will accelerate toward a tipping point in the coming decades. A tipping point is a situation where small losses or negative changes turn into large-scale catastrophes. Climate chaos could worsen if the crisis is prolonged.
The negotiators said that the countries most at risk due to the climate crisis have come up with a solution. They say that those who have created this crisis should create a fund called ‘Irreparable Damage Financing Fund’ to compensate for the irreparable damage caused by them. ‘Irreversible damage’ refers to the devastating effects of the climate crisis. These are losses that cannot be mitigated through adaptation processes and adaptation to current and future climate change impacts.
The climate-vulnerable Pacific nation of Vanuatu was the first to offer such financial assistance in 1991. But the matter has been kept locked in so-called technical discussions for years. Finally the issue of irreparable damage and its financing is finally becoming inevitable.
The negotiators also said that such financing is impossible amid food, energy and livelihood crisis. Only six fossil fuel companies made enough money to cover the costs of extreme weather and climate-related events in developing countries in the first half of 2022, according to a new report by the climate change advocacy group The Loss and Damage Collaboration. For another, oil companies make $1 billion a day. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for a ‘windfall tax’ on major fossil fuel companies to pay for loss and damage caused by climate change disasters.
Loss and Damage is firmly on the official agenda of the current conference. However, it will not be resolved in this conference.
While irreparable damage was at the center of the discussion, lobbyists from oil and gas companies outnumbered representatives of the most vulnerable countries. There are 636 representatives from the oil and gas industry at the Sharm Al-Sheikh conference, which is 25 percent more than the previous year. In Glasgow the number was 503. Giving polluter lobbyists unfettered access to the policymaking process will undermine meaningful responses to the climate crisis.
The World Bank is not on the agenda of the UN climate conference. It is a completely different institution. However, many world leaders have called for its reform. They say the World Bank has failed to address the climate crisis and is not fit for the 21st century. World Bank President David Malpass is attending the conference; But by the end of the conference, his position could be shaken. If the World Bank is finally reformed, it could be Sharm Al-Sheikh’s greatest achievement. That prospect is starting to get stronger.